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33-559: The home originally called "Grundy Place" was constructed for Attorney General Felix Grundy between 1815 and 1820 in the Palladian style of architecture, Grundy lived in the home until his death in 1840. President Polk purchased the home while living in the White House in 1847, renaming it "Polk Place". Polk contracted Nashville architect J.M. Hughes to renovate the home for the time when he and Sarah would return to Tennessee after

66-702: A Democrat to the United States Senate on November 19, 1839, to fill the vacancy in the term commencing March 4, 1839, caused by the resignation of Ephraim Foster . He resolved the question of whether he was eligible to be elected as Senator while holding the office of Attorney General by resigning on December 14, 1839. He was reelected by the Tennessee legislature to the Senate the same day, serving from December 14, 1839, until his death in Nashville ,

99-536: A new state constitution that established the judiciary an independent branch of government, which included the Supreme Court as well as a system of lower courts. This court had three justices. The third Tennessee State Constitution , adopted in 1870, called for five justices, no more than two of whom may come from any one of the state's three Grand Divisions ( East Tennessee , Middle Tennessee , and West Tennessee ) in order to prevent regional bias. For

132-803: A Cabinet position. During his period in Congress, Grundy served as chairman of the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads ( 21st through 24th Congresses ), U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary (24th and 25th Congresses ). Grundy was appointed as Attorney General of the United States by President Martin Van Buren in July 1838. He resigned the post in December 1839, having been elected as

165-695: A little over a year later. During this stint in the US Senate, Grundy served as chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Revolutionary Claims in the 26th Congress . Grundy was buried at Nashville City Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee . After his death, four American counties were named in his honor. The four counties are located in Illinois , Iowa , Missouri and Tennessee . Both Grundy Center, Iowa , and its location of Grundy County, Iowa are also named in his honor. Grundy Center's annual festival, called "Felix Grundy Days", are held each July. This marks

198-444: A mess of potage" and had made the judicial branch subordinate to the legislative branch. Partially as a result of that decision, the statute was revised in 1974 to remove Tennessee Supreme Court justices from the plan, yet a 1994 revision to what was now called the " Tennessee Plan " extended it once again to supreme court justices. The case of DeLaney v. Thompson challenged the statute once more in 1998. The plaintiffs argued that

231-500: A provision for a judicial branch of government in its constitution. The Tennessee legislature created a Superior Court with three judges who were elected by the general assembly and functioned as both a trial court and an appellate court. In 1809, the Superior Court was abolished by the Tennessee legislature and a new Supreme Court of Error and Appeals , which only heard appellate cases, was established. In 1835, Tennessee adopted

264-480: A statute modified this process at the appellate level. Under a modified version of the Missouri Plan , appellate judges (including supreme court justices) would be subjected only to a "Yes/No" retention vote rather than to any challenge from an electoral opponent. Thus, it became impossible to become an appellate judge without being appointed by the governor. The revised statute was subject to litigation. In

297-417: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Felix Grundy Felix Grundy (September 11, 1777 – December 19, 1840) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 13th United States Attorney General . He also had served several terms as a congressman and as a U.S. senator from Tennessee . He was known for his success as a criminal lawyer who attracted crowds when he served on

330-579: Is composed of five members: a chief justice , and four justices . As of September 1, 2023 , the chief justice is Holly M. Kirby . Unlike other states, in which the state attorney general is directly elected or appointed by the governor or state legislature , the Tennessee Supreme Court appoints the Tennessee Attorney General . When Tennessee was admitted as a state on June 1, 1796, it didn't have

363-682: The Tennessee House of Representatives from 1819 to 1825. In 1820 he was a commissioner to settle the boundary line ( state line ) between Tennessee and Kentucky. He was elected as a Jacksonian in 1829 to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy in the term ending March 4, 1833, caused by the resignation of John H. Eaton to join the Cabinet of President Andrew Jackson . Reelected in 1832, Grundy served from October 19, 1829, to July 4, 1838, when he resigned to accept

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396-473: The governor's mansion . (At the time, the governor of Tennessee stayed in a hotel room.) Finally, the state Supreme Court ordered the Polk family to sell the home and evenly split the money from the sale in 1900. Tasker would sell the home to Jacob M. Dickinson who then sold it to a developer and the mansion was demolished in 1901 to build a small apartment building. The site has changed hands many times over

429-570: The Civil War, Polk Place was considered neutral ground by both the Confederate and Union armies, despite the fact that Sarah Polk had nephews fighting on the Confederate side. Union generals Ulysses S. Grant and Don Carlos Buell frequently paid their respects to the former first lady, as had Confederate generals briefly before the Union occupation. At the end of the war, Sarah Polk Jetton

462-583: The Polk family, giving control of the home to them. President Polk's tomb was originally located on the front lawn until 1893, when it was moved to the Tennessee State Capitol . The Polk family could not agree on what to do with the home and did not want to follow the president's will, in which he expressed desire that a worthy and noble Polk relative run the home like the Hermitage . The state of Tennessee nearly acquired Polk Place and made it

495-689: The case of Higgins v. Dunn (1973), the Court held that the retention elections were constitutional, as the constitution specified only that judges must be elected, without precisely defining what kinds of elections the General Assembly must enact for that purpose. Justice Allison B. Humphries , in his dissent, opined that the supreme court justices approving the constitutionality of the Modified Missouri Plan had, "like Esau, sold [their] precious birthright, equality and freedom for

528-643: The constitutionality of the Tennessee Plan but rather remanded the case on a technicality. In 2014, Tennessee voters approved an amendment to the Tennessee Constitution, which codified the Tennessee Plan while adding to it a provision that gubernatorial appointments must be confirmed by the General Assembly. Only one member of the Tennessee Supreme Court has ever been removed under the Tennessee Plan. Former Justice Penny White

561-404: The court in action since 1995. The justices serve eight-year terms and can succeed themselves. The office of chief justice rotates among the justices. Justices are required to recuse themselves in cases in which they may have a personal interest; the whole court once had to step aside and a case be heard by a special court appointed by the governor, this occurring when the court itself became

594-746: The defense. Born in Berkeley County, Virginia (now Berkeley County, West Virginia ), Grundy moved with his parents to Brownsville, Pennsylvania , and then Kentucky with his parents. He was educated at home and at the Bardstown Academy in Bardstown, Kentucky . He read law as an apprentice with an established firm, was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1799. That year he started practice in Springfield, Kentucky . In 1799, he

627-426: The election process, the tenure has remained the same ever since) and provided that all judges (including supreme court justices) would be elected by the people. Under this arrangement, a justice could enter office either through gubernatorial appointment (to fill a vacancy) or by winning a partisan election. Either way, the justice would have to stand for re-election during the next general state election. In 1971,

660-751: The end of his presidency. In the processes of modifying and renovating the home the back portion was destroyed by an accidental gunpowder explosion in 1847. With repairs underway the President wanted a more modern style, and requested Hughes to redesign the home in the Greek Revival style of architecture. Sarah Polk went to inspect the construction and repairs of the home in early 1848 for their return. Upon returning to Tennessee in 1849, James and Sarah Polk went to his mother's home in Columbia before returning to Nashville two weeks later, when Polk Place

693-617: The home. She became a recluse for some time, barely leaving the mansion. She did not find solace until fostering a great niece, Sarah Polk Jetton in the early 1850s. Soon she opened her home back up for invitations and hosting guests along with the occasional event. She hosted distinguished and popular guests throughout her widowhood, including her close friend Adelicia Acklen , Abram Hewitt , Edward Cooper , John C. Calhoun II , John Catron , George Bancroft , Cyrus Field , William Vanderbilt , Sam Houston , and presidents Andrew Johnson , Rutherford B. Hayes and Grover Cleveland . During

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726-568: The process was not an " election " in the sense envisioned by the authors of the state constitution and that the court in Higgins v. Dunn had been incompetent to render a decision because of its interest in the outcome of the case. DeLaney v. Thompson was appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court, which, if it had not recused itself in the case of Higgins v. Dunn recused itself altogether and entirely now. The governor appointed five temporary replacements to hear this case. That body declined to rule on

759-573: The same purpose, the court is required to convene alternately in Nashville , Knoxville , and Jackson . In recent years, its provision has been regarded as permissive rather than restrictive. Therefore, the court has met in other cities, such as Chattanooga , Kingsport , and Memphis , throughout the state as part of a legal education project for high school students called Supreme Court Advancing Legal Education for Students (SCALES). SCALES has been instrumental in allowing over 36,000 high school students from over 540 high schools in Tennessee to see

792-656: The start to the annual Grundy County Fair, located in Grundy Center. Grundy was a mentor to future President James K. Polk . Polk purchased Grundy's home in Nashville called "Grundy Place" and changed the name to " Polk Place ". He lived and died there after his presidency. It was demolished in 1901. Tennessee Supreme Court The Tennessee Supreme Court is the highest court in the state of Tennessee . The Supreme Court's three buildings are seated in Nashville , Knoxville , and Jackson , Tennessee. The Court

825-469: The state. In addition, Nashville was growing rapidly as the chief city in the Middle District of Tennessee. While soon renowned as a criminal lawyer in Tennessee, Grundy maintained his political ambition. Grundy was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the 12th and 13th Congresses and served from March 4, 1811, until his resignation in July 1814. He was elected and served as a member of

858-485: The subject of litigation , as described below. The Tennessee Supreme Court has no original jurisdiction . Other than in cases of worker's compensation , which have traditionally been appealed directly to it from the trial court , it hears only appeals of civil cases which have been heard by the Court of Appeals , and of criminal cases that have been heard by the Court of Criminal Appeals . The Tennessee Supreme Court

891-553: The years. The YWCA bought the property in 1909 and built a new state-of-the-art facility. They sold the building in 1978 and moved to Woodmont Avenue. The Capitol Hotel (formerly Best Western) now occupies the former site of Polk Place in downtown Nashville . An iron fountain, garden urns, and gate were preserved from the property and are now located at the President James K. Polk Home & Museum in Columbia . This Davidson County, Tennessee geography–related article

924-470: Was a long legal dispute brought by other Polk relatives, who claimed Sarah Polk's will was invalid and the perpetuity in President Polk's will had gone into effect; that he could not foresee that far into the future. The president's nephew Tasker Polk, son of his brother William Hawkins Polk , was the one who led the legal battle against Sarah Polk Fall. A judge ruled in favor of Tasker Polk and

957-617: Was chosen to represent Washington County at the convention that drafted the second Kentucky Constitution . From 1800 to 1802, he represented Washington County in the Kentucky House of Representatives . He moved to Nelson County , and was elected to represent it in the Kentucky House for one term (1804–1806). On December 10, 1806, he was commissioned an associate justice of the Kentucky Court of Appeals . Grundy

990-650: Was created through the Constitutional Convention of 1834 and replaced the Tennessee Court of Errors and Appeals . The method by which Tennessee's supreme court justices are selected has changed significantly over the years. Originally, each justice was elected by the Tennessee General Assembly for life. An 1853 amendment to the state constitution set judicial terms of office to eight years (even with changes in

1023-475: Was elevated to Chief Justice of the court on April 11, 1807. Later that year, he resigned and moved to Nashville, Tennessee , where he again took up the practice of law. Grundy was opposed to the rising Kentucky politician (and later founder of the Whig Party ), Henry Clay , whose Bluegrass interests clashed with Grundy's. The former chief justice left Kentucky in part because of Clay's growing presence in

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1056-400: Was finished. It was the President's final residence, where he died of cholera at age 53, only three months after leaving office. He had lived in the home for between thirty and fifty days. After his death his wife continued to reside there for 42 years until her death in 1891. The home was demolished in 1901, a decade after her death. After the president's death first lady Sarah Polk lived in

1089-419: Was married in the main parlor of Polk Place to a wealthy Nashville merchant, George Fall. After a short illness, Sarah Polk died at Polk Place in 1891, just short of her 88th birthday. Originally her will was followed, giving sole ownership of the home and its estate to her great niece Sarah Polk (Jetton) Fall , allowing her to live in the mansion for a few years after Sarah Polk's death. What followed, however,

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